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Japan’s Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) has announced that former two-time K-1 MAX Grand Prix Champion Masato is set to do battle with DREAM lightweight standout Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri in a K-1 Rules bout at ‘K-1 World MAX Final 8’ from the Nippon Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Jul 13.
The fight continues the recent slew of K-1 vs. MMA fighters that FEG has been brewing, which has seen various mixed martial artists invade K-1 and try their hand out in the stand-up only combat. And more often then not it has seen the mixed marital artists win or at the very least give the K-1 stars a run for their money.
Now it appears “Crusher” will look to continue that trend against the K-1 legend in one of his final battles.

Back in March, hardcore fans were treated to an announcement that brought back some nostalgic memories of a crafty fighter who was one of the first Japanese lightweights to have an impact in the history of the UFC. Caol Uno(27-11-4) will make his return to the Octagon at UFC 99 against what may be considered one of Joe Silva's best matchups on the card as he takes on Spencer Fisher in a lightweight tilt.

Saturday's UFC 99 event, the first-ever UFC show to take place in Germany, is close to being sold out.
Jennifer Wenk, the UFC's director of public relations, said during Monday's pre-event media conference call that the event is "about 85 percent sold out."
"UFC 99: Franklin vs. Silva," which features a main event between Rich Franklin and Wandleri Silva at a catch-weight of 195 pounds, takes place at Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, and airs on pay per view. It's the first overseas event for the UFC since it ventured to Dublin, Ireland, in January for UFC 93.

The latest Adrenaline MMA event, Adrenaline 3, is set for Saturday night and Monte Cox has revealed the full card. The event will feature a mix of amateur and pro MMA fights headlined by a 6-round boxing fight between Ray Mercer and Tim Sylvia to be held in a cage instead of a ring.

Tickets for Strikeforce: “Carano vs. Cyborg” at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., are on sale to the public beginning Monday, June 15 at 10 a.m. ET.
The event will mark the promotion’s return to its home base of San Jose after successfully holding its first event in St. Louis, Missouri with Strikeforce: ‘Lawler vs. Shields’ on June 6, one of several events airing on the premium cable network Showtime this year.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski will not be medically cleared in time to make his professional boxing debut on June 27 at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on the undercard of the Victor Ortiz vs. Marcos Maidana fight on HBO according to Sherdog.com.
Under the tutelage of world renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach, who has been working with “The Pitbull” over the past year or so to help him improve his striking, Arlovski had signed with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to take a crack at the sweet science after coming up short in his WAMMA world title fight against champion Fedor Emelianenko back on January 24 at Affliction: “Day of Reckoning.”
With former boxing champion Michael Moorer by his side, Arlovski accepted a short-notice bout against Strikeforce heavyweight wrecking ball Brett “The Grimm” Rogers at the June 6 “Lawler vs. Shields” event to satisfy the last fight on his Affliction contract (Affliction sponsored his appearance).

“I don’t talk to Dana, not at all. I don’t have his number. But we had a pretty good relationship. I know he has said some pretty bad things about me but, to be honest, I think a lot of it has to do with marketing; Dana tries to come off like he doesn’t care. Dana likes to come off as an asshole but a lot of it is an act I believe. I had a good relationship with [UFC co-owner] Lorenzo Fertitta, great guy. So, it is what is. But I would love to be back there again one day, I would like to end my career in the UFC.”

By now, it's no secret that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson isn't fond of Rashad Evans. The two went nose to nose after UFC 96 and nearly fought at a recent photo shoot. Jackson is chomping at the bit for a fight with the former champion.
New champion Lyoto Machida was a frequent refrain at a media day for the tenth season of "TUF." Jackson said Evans had it all wrong when he faced "The Dragon."

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic stepped into the MMA ring four times in 2006, going 4-0 and winning the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix title. But in 2007, when he moved from the Pride ring to the UFC Octagon, he struggled, going 1-2. Now Cro Cop is getting ready to return to the UFC, and he said on Tuesday that he's much more prepared to make the transition from ring to cage than he was two years ago.
"They are different, definitely," Cro Cop said of transitioning from ring to cage. "I spent my whole career fighting in the ring and then I entered the cage. I must say I underestimated the cage. It's much, much easier to go from the cage to the ring than from the ring to the cage. So I got a cage in my gym."

The fight card is complete for Strikeforce's next major show, a Strikeforce Challengers event featuring a middleweight main event between Joey Villasenor (26-6) and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (16-12).
The event takes place Friday, June 19, at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., and airs on Showtime.
In addition to a co-main event of Tim Kennedy (9-2) vs. Nick Thompson (38-10-1), the card features Strikeforce newcomer Jorge Gurgel, veteran Dennis Hallman and a women's bout between Shayna Baszler (9-5) and Sarah Kaufman (8-0).
Strikeforce Challengers, initially called "SHO MMA" before a recent name change, was designed to showcase top prospects. However, as Strikeforce shuffles around its current roster after an influx of talent acquired from ProElite, some notables names will appear on the initial Challengers cards.

Cain Velasquez is an undefeated heavyweight who's preparing for the toughest test of his career when he faces Cheick Kongo on Saturday at UFC 99, and he says his goal is to win the UFC heavyweight title. But the 26-year-old Velasquez, who only got into MMA four years ago after his wrestling career at Arizona State ended, says he can be patient.
In an interview with FanHouse, Velasquez said that even if he beats Kongo on Saturday, he doesn't expect to get the next shot at the UFC title. He's just looking to add one more win to his fast growing resume. The full interview is below.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic is one of the most popular mixed martial arts fighters in the world, but his most devoted fans -- the ones in his native Croatia -- haven't had many opportunities to see him fight. Cro Cop has fought almost exclusively in Japan, so as he prepares to fight in Continental Europe for the first time ever at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany, he says he expects to have a big contingent of fans with him when he takes on Mostapha Al Turk.
"Many friends of mine are traveling," Cro Cop told me Tuesday on a call to promote UFC 99. "My brothers, my brothers-in-law, my father-in-law, my family will be taking their own cars to Cologne. Many, many people are going in their cars. It's only about 10 hours of driving to get there. Many, many, many people are coming, people are organizing trips, and definitely, many Croatian fans will be there."

"I just want to do the big fights," said Jake Shields after his first-round submission of No. 2 ranked middleweight Robbie Lawler at Strikeforce on Saturday night. "I think I showed I can fight at both. I bulked up a little for this fight. I'm still moving good. I'm in great shape. I think I can fight at either weight.
"Obviously guys are a little bigger at middleweight, but I feel like I'm faster there, so I'll fight where ever they want me."
Talking to MMAWeekly.com on Monday, Shields added, "I felt really comfortable up there. Robbie's obviously a strong guy, but I didn't feel overwhelmed by him at all. I definitely could deal with him."

DEEP have put together a good card for their DEEP Toyama Impact event. With 2 events in 3 days, it is impressive what they have managed. This will be a rare occation to see a title fight in the Toyama area, and it should be a good one too. The champion Miku Matsumoto will get a chance to revenge her loss to Lisa Ward, a loss that dates 3 years back and the only loss she is yet to revenge. This should be an awesome fight between 2 of the world's top female fighters.

This past weekend's Strikeforce event could be just the start of the California-based Strikeforce promotion's expansion across America.
Prior to the June 6 "Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields" event at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, the organization had never ventured any further east than Colorado.
However, as MMAjunkie.com's Dann Stupp details in this week's "MMA Insider" column for the Dayton Daily News, the success of the St. Louis show could mean further shows for the Gateway City and other locales near and on the East Coast.

Coming off a win at DREAM 9 that has earned him a Lightweight title shot, Tatsuya Kawajiri may be headed back to K-1 for a second fight. Although not yet official, the plan is to have "Crusher" face K-1 star Masato in a Superfight on July 13 as part of the K-1 World Max 2009 Tournament Final 8 event. The K-1 vs. MMA concept was very popular with fans in Japan and parent company FEG liked the concept.

Coming off a badly broken nose suffered in his huge victory over Gabriel Gonzaga, Shane Carwin recently said he was cleared to resume sparring last week and, while he doesn't have an opponent in mind, is targeting a September or October return to UFC. He says he likes 3 months' notice before a fight but will be ready when UFC calls.